I want to believe in God again.

Saint Frankenstein said:

I keep flip-flopping between religions and I'm tired of it. I should just learn my lesson - polytheism doesn't really click with me and it's a lonely experience for me. It doesn't bring me peace of mind and I don't really feel the gods, not in the same way I've experienced the Christian God in the past. That's just my experience.

But I am very angry and bitter at Christians, specifically Catholics, for how they have treated me and people like me. I do not feel like I was really accepted as a Catholic. I cannot stand the judgmentalism and hypocrisy. But if I commit to Christianity again, it would have to be Catholicism because I simply can't see myself being a Protestant. Orthodoxy is an option, but that's too culturally foreign to me. I miss going to Mass, I miss the feeling of peace, warmth and love I felt praying and meditating, I miss the sense of wonder. I also would not become some super-conservative type. That's just not me. I know how to reconcile being queer, trans and sex-positive with Christianity, within myself.

I don't know. A lot of the time I feel like my relationship with God and the Church is so broken that it can't be fixed and I'm just fooling myself.

I don't know where I'm going with this post, I'm just tired.

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People are never pleased and always have something to say..so don't try pleasing them..do what makes you happy.
May you find guidance,happiness and tranquility

Saint Frankenstein said:

I keep flip-flopping between religions and I'm tired of it. I should just learn my lesson - polytheism doesn't really click with me and it's a lonely experience for me. It doesn't bring me peace of mind and I don't really feel the gods, not in the same way I've experienced the Christian God in the past. That's just my experience.

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What if you were to hold henotheist beliefs?

That is, to still believe the other Gods are there, but that the God you worship is the Christian God?

It's how I reconcile my polytheist beliefs with a particular love for certain stories that are decidedly Christian.

Riverwolf said:

What if you were to hold henotheist beliefs?

That is, to still believe the other Gods are there, but that the God you worship is the Christian God?

It's how I reconcile my polytheist beliefs with a particular love for certain stories that are decidedly Christian.

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Oh, I think they exist on some level. I would see them more as nature spirits and suchlike.

Saint Frankenstein said:

Oh, I think they exist on some level.

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The do exist on some level. The wonderful level called human imagination.

Demonslayer said:

The do exist on some level. The wonderful level called human imagination.

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Can you please stop it? That's just rude. We know you don't believe in them, so you don't need to make statements like that over and over, especially when they're inappropriate to the conversation at hand.

Saint Frankenstein said:

A lot of the time I feel like my relationship with God and the Church is so broken that it can't be fixed and I'm just fooling myself.

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This was part of your original post, asking advice from people on what you should do about your spiritual crisis.

So you accept all opinions...except my opinion that you should view Gods as imaginary and move on with your life? Why? Why is that such a horrible piece of advice? You only want advice that fits what you want to hear?

Fine with me, embrace Jesus the Wood Nymph and all your problems will be solved. Enjoy.

Demonslayer said:

This was part of your original post, asking advice from people on what you should do about your spiritual crisis.

So you accept all opinions...except my opinion that you should view Gods as imaginary and move on with your life? Why? Why is that such a horrible piece of advice? You only want advice that fits what you want to hear?

Fine with me, embrace Jesus the Wood Nymph and all your problems will be solved. Enjoy.

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First off, the title of my thread is "I want to believe in God again", not "I want to overcome theism". So why in the hell would you assume that making statements such as that God is imaginary and using derisive language like "Jesus the Wood Nymph" would be welcomed? Are you that callous and insensitive? Do you have any forethought at all? Because I notice you do this a lot and it's very rude and immature. We know you're an atheist and that you don't like Christianity, especially, because of whatever experiences you had. I understand. But there's no need to be insulting towards others.

Saint Frankenstein said:

Oh, I think they exist on some level. I would see them more as nature spirits and suchlike.

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That works.

When I first joined, you were a pagan follower. Months later, you were Catholic. I then took a long break and when I came back, you're neither of those.

Maybe you have to face what reality is telling you. If you want to follow some religions, there are rules and beliefs you have to follow.

It's like you're trying to swim upstream. Instead, why not just flow with the stream.

Some things are mutually exclusive. At the moment, religion is conflicting with many ideals with that of your core identity. Maybe just flow with your core and hopefully, religion changes in the future and better coincides with your core?

Just throwing this out...

Saint Frankenstein said:

Are you that callous and insensitive?

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If you think it's "callous and insensitive" for someone on a religious blog to suggest Gods were created by human imagination, me thinks you're just being a little pissy. Man up.

Demonslayer said:

If you think it's "callous and insensitive" for someone on a religious blog to suggest Gods were created by human imagination, me thinks you're just being a little pissy. Man up.

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Seriously, Demonslayer, your comments are not welcome here. The OP has made it clear to you as respectfully as he can. The OP is 'I want to believe in God again" and suggesting that God is imaginary is the exact opposite of the idea behind the thread. Now please, leave St Frank alone. Thanks.

Rival said:

and suggesting that God is imaginary is the exact opposite of the idea behind the thread

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So people can suggest God is a spirit, a tree, the universe, an angry grandfather...but I'm rude to suggest God is a mental construct.

Wow.

An informal reminder for those who may have forgotten:

Rex said:

The Interfaith Discussion subforum is for discussing and learning about different religions.

It is not for debating.

If you don't agree with what someone else has posted and want to challenge it, you need to start a thread in a debate section (e.g., Religious Debates, General Debates).

As per Rule 1, remember that you need to ask for permission to quote someone else's content in a new thread.

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Saint Frankenstein said:

I keep flip-flopping between religions and I'm tired of it. I should just learn my lesson - polytheism doesn't really click with me and it's a lonely experience for me. It doesn't bring me peace of mind and I don't really feel the gods, not in the same way I've experienced the Christian God in the past. That's just my experience.

But I am very angry and bitter at Christians, specifically Catholics, for how they have treated me and people like me. I do not feel like I was really accepted as a Catholic. I cannot stand the judgmentalism and hypocrisy. But if I commit to Christianity again, it would have to be Catholicism because I simply can't see myself being a Protestant. Orthodoxy is an option, but that's too culturally foreign to me. I miss going to Mass, I miss the feeling of peace, warmth and love I felt praying and meditating, I miss the sense of wonder. I also would not become some super-conservative type. That's just not me. I know how to reconcile being queer, trans and sex-positive with Christianity, within myself.

I don't know. A lot of the time I feel like my relationship with God and the Church is so broken that it can't be fixed and I'm just fooling myself.

I don't know where I'm going with this post, I'm just tired.

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Have you considered going the agnostic route, whilst still doing things like meditation but just in a secular manner?

Saint Frankenstein said:

I keep flip-flopping between religions and I'm tired of it. I should just learn my lesson - polytheism doesn't really click with me and it's a lonely experience for me. It doesn't bring me peace of mind and I don't really feel the gods, not in the same way I've experienced the Christian God in the past. That's just my experience.

But I am very angry and bitter at Christians, specifically Catholics, for how they have treated me and people like me. I do not feel like I was really accepted as a Catholic. I cannot stand the judgmentalism and hypocrisy. But if I commit to Christianity again, it would have to be Catholicism because I simply can't see myself being a Protestant. Orthodoxy is an option, but that's too culturally foreign to me. I miss going to Mass, I miss the feeling of peace, warmth and love I felt praying and meditating, I miss the sense of wonder. I also would not become some super-conservative type. That's just not me. I know how to reconcile being queer, trans and sex-positive with Christianity, within myself.

I don't know. A lot of the time I feel like my relationship with God and the Church is so broken that it can't be fixed and I'm just fooling myself.

I don't know where I'm going with this post, I'm just tired.

Click to expand...

I would probably rephrase the question to "what DO I believe in", but I wouldn't be in a hurry to answer it.

If you really want to go to church, then dress up real nice and go. If people don't understand you, it's not your job to give a lecture or workshop explaining yourself. It is your job to be happy.

I know what you're going thru, because I've flipflopped on religions several times myself.. I was raised Southern Baptist, and have been a few other religions over the years, but I kept coming back to Quakerism, so I finally got tired of jumping from one to the other so when I returned to Quakerism most recently I decided to try to make it stick, since that seems to be what I'm most strongly drawn to.

Basically, what I'm trying to say is you seem to be drawn most strongly to Catholicism so if you must join one religion and stick with it then Catholicism is probably where you belong.

Just be Catholic.

Honestly, you seem like a Catholic to me. You have roots in it, you are often drawn back to it, it is part of your familial and personal history. Will the church itself accept you fully? Probably not, no. But there are plenty of people within Catholicism that the church does not accept. It is a gigantic institution that contains competing and conflicting factions. It has been that way for thousands of years and will be that way until it passes from the earth.

I'm not a Catholic. I don't really find any of it very compelling, I find much of it weird and I don't really get any solace from it. But that's because atheism to me is just true. I am not very conflicted about it unless I want a sense of community or a different answer to a question that I know is not a true answer, usually about death. My partner was raised in the Catholic church and as far as I am concerned is not really Catholic, but attends Catholic services with his family. I've met his family's priest and I did the procession with his family when his grandmother died. I am not going to be a dick and deny my partner his cultural identification with the religion that is by and large tolerant, at least, of him. I don't really get it, but I am not going to make a big deal out of it.

Catholics shop around for parishes, they shop around for priests and they shop around for saints. Even if they disagree with the institution, they get to be part of something that is meaningful to them personally and transcends them in some way, across history and through their family lines. If that works for you, and a lot of times it seems to, just go with it. Because at the end of the day you are going to be culturally Catholic even if you are not religiously Catholic, so you might as well try to reconcile the two. Just my two cents.

First Baseman said:

Stop worrying about the religion(s) and concentrate on your relationship with Jesus Christ. He will guide you where you ought to go. Just put your faith in Him and forget about what everybody else is telling you. Remember that the world rejected Him, too.

Don't think it a strange thing when your faith is put to the test.

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He should just forget what everybody else is telling him?
Should he just forget what you're telling him too?

Saint Frankenstein said:

I keep flip-flopping between religions and I'm tired of it. I should just learn my lesson - polytheism doesn't really click with me and it's a lonely experience for me. It doesn't bring me peace of mind and I don't really feel the gods, not in the same way I've experienced the Christian God in the past. That's just my experience.

But I am very angry and bitter at Christians, specifically Catholics, for how they have treated me and people like me. I do not feel like I was really accepted as a Catholic. I cannot stand the judgmentalism and hypocrisy. But if I commit to Christianity again, it would have to be Catholicism because I simply can't see myself being a Protestant. Orthodoxy is an option, but that's too culturally foreign to me. I miss going to Mass, I miss the feeling of peace, warmth and love I felt praying and meditating, I miss the sense of wonder. I also would not become some super-conservative type. That's just not me. I know how to reconcile being queer, trans and sex-positive with Christianity, within myself.

I don't know. A lot of the time I feel like my relationship with God and the Church is so broken that it can't be fixed and I'm just fooling myself.

I don't know where I'm going with this post, I'm just tired.

Click to expand...

Have you considered attending service at a Unitarian Universalist church?

http://www.uua.org/

You might be a good fit for UU as my understanding is that you wouldn't have to forsake your connection to Catholicism, but, would have the opportunity to learn and explore with others in an accepting environment.

Your relationship with God is a heart matter, not a social matter, in my opinion. You can maintain a relationship with God with or without affiliation with a church.

Perhaps a network of support would help you on your spiritual path?

Saint Frankenstein said:

I keep flip-flopping between religions and I'm tired of it. I should just learn my lesson - polytheism doesn't really click with me and it's a lonely experience for me. It doesn't bring me peace of mind and I don't really feel the gods, not in the same way I've experienced the Christian God in the past. That's just my experience.

But I am very angry and bitter at Christians, specifically Catholics, for how they have treated me and people like me. I do not feel like I was really accepted as a Catholic. I cannot stand the judgmentalism and hypocrisy. But if I commit to Christianity again, it would have to be Catholicism because I simply can't see myself being a Protestant. Orthodoxy is an option, but that's too culturally foreign to me. I miss going to Mass, I miss the feeling of peace, warmth and love I felt praying and meditating, I miss the sense of wonder. I also would not become some super-conservative type. That's just not me. I know how to reconcile being queer, trans and sex-positive with Christianity, within myself.

I don't know. A lot of the time I feel like my relationship with God and the Church is so broken that it can't be fixed and I'm just fooling myself.

I don't know where I'm going with this post, I'm just tired.

Click to expand...

Hi there, I would highly recommend listening to the Gospel of John a few times on youtube. Especially focusing on Jesus' long talk with his disciples before his crucifixion. Soak up His words until you know deep down in your soul that He loves you with an endless love!